Fish, A lot of changes in radio communications will be happening in 2012. These are changes that are mandated by the government and have been in the works for several years. It is in an effort to free up some of the air waves by doing something with the frequencies. I'm just not sure on all the details.
I am fairly certain that the radios that I have in my trucks and even a handheld that I have are not narrow band compatible and will become pretty much useless after 2012. I'm not exactly sure what all is changing and what will work and what won't, so I need to do a bunch of research as well.
That being said,--- Don't rush out and buy any old set of radios that you see at a good deal. They might be a good deal only because they will be obsolete in a few months. I wish that I knew more of the details, but that's not exactly my cup of tea.
I have a guy coming to reprogram the radio in my dozer next month since it is a narrow band compatible radio. From what I understand it will render the radio less effective over large distances, but like I said before I don't know all the details.